Shel Israel for Social Computing Magazine, on the huge phenomenon of online video.

“I’ve been looking at online video for about a month now, spending less than an hour on most days, just poking around. There’s so much going on, in so many areas, that this approach is very much like assaulting a glacier with an ice pick. Except that even a glacier on steroids would not come close to keeping up with this rapidly growing, rapidly changing category.

Over half the web’s content is now digital video, my friend JD Lasica, a citizen video expert says. He says many predict the web will eventually be 98% video.

This changes things. It changes how the Internet will be used. Some of this is just a new and better distribution mechanism. For example, the day is fast coming when you’ll be able to get whatever commercial TV or video program you want from your computer and wirelessly send it to your TV set for viewing whenever you want. Cable providers need not be involved. There’s also the new pro-am explosion best typified on YouTube.

But there is much more happening and from time-to-time, I plan to write about the companies and people who stand out in my perception as the diamonds in the coal mine, companies and people who are changing the nature of the online experience.”

“The explosion in popularity of online video could lead to increases in the cost of broadband for UK consumers, reports the BBC.

Internet services providers, such as Tiscali, say that the raft of recently launched on-demand services will “undoubtedly” congest the network.

Upgrades to the net could be needed to ensure services such as the BBC iPlayer continue to work properly, with costs passed on to the consumer, they say.

Alternatively, the ISPs say they would have to limit access to services.

One option that would allow them to do this would be to use so-called traffic shaping. This involves delaying packets of information sent across the network until congestion has eased.

Tiscali already targets some of its customer’s traffic using the technology.

The last two years has seen a sudden boom in video traffic over the internet.

In addition to popular websites such as YouTube there are an increasing number of on-demand services, such as 4oD, Joost and Babelgum, launched by traditional broadcasters and start-ups.

If ISPs had healthy margins for broadband, this wouldn’t matter anything like as much.

And unlike YouTube, the picture quality is much higher and the programmes longer.

… Analysts believe that ISPs have started to revolt about delivering net video because of the fickle European broadband market and because publishers are effectively transferring their distribution costs on to the ISP.”